Going
for Gold - next steps
Local democracy matters
In Cambridge lots of people want to get involved, whether by making comments
or complaints or by influencing Council policy. We welcome this and we
want to make it easy and attractive for people to have a voice in local
affairs.
What we've done so far
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carried out the first ever public consultation about the level of Council
Tax and how the Council should spend its budget
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introduced public speaking rights at all committees and full Council
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consulted young people about their priorities, with a real budget
at stake
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demanded higher standards of public consultation by developers over
planning applications
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begun to look at ways to devolve power to the city's neighbourhoods.
The introduction of the neighbourhood ranger service and area Tidy Teams
are the first steps in giving local people more say in how services operate
Next Steps
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Central government is showing signs of wanting to control and constrain
local councils to an ever greater degree, reducing the value of local democracy.
Nationally and locally the Liberal Democrats oppose this trend. We are
the only party that is genuinely committed to local government, and
we will continue to demand that central government gives local councils
the freedom and resources they need to serve the public
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We will make consult you about the decentralisation of some decision
making to area committees, to bring the Council closer to local communities
and give people the power to make decisions about their neighbourhoods
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As directed by government the Council is preparing a new constitution.
We are making sure that this constitution will be as open and participative
as possible within limits set by central government
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We will continue to develop the Council's use of new technology
to give you easier access to the Council, for example through email polling
and development of an interactive web site
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We will continue to listen to you through the Citizens' Survey, the budget
consultation process and through the close links between councillors and
ward residents. We will make sure that our policies continue to be in line
with your priorities.
Published by Keith Edkins on behalf of Cambridge Liberal Democrats © March 2002
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